Alexander The Great; a history
Alexander The Great
Alexander was born in the ancient capital of Macedonia, Pella. His father Philip was the ruler of Macedonia and his mother’s name was Olympias. While Alexander grew up, Philip was conquering the Greek mainland. As Alexander grew he quickly showed his potential at tactics and strategy. When his father Philip III hired Aristotle, Alexander acquired rhetoric and philosophical skills.
Aristotle also gave Alexander his copy of the Iliad. This book was especially important because Alexander’s mother was supposedly related to Achilles, the hero in the Iliad.
When Alexander’s father was murdered Alexander was thrust onto the throne at the age of 18. After quickly crushing revolt in upper Macedonia and Southern Greece where he razed to the ground the city of Thebes, Alexander set off to conquer Persia with his veteran army of 35,000 phalangites. At the river Granicus, Alexander crushed an army twice his size leaving only 2,000 Greek mercenaries, which he sold into slavery. Alexander then marched up the Ionian coast capturing all the cities in his in his path.
Alexander’s next major battle was at the small town of Issus which is near the Nur Mountains. This time though the Persian army was led personally by the King of Persia, Darius III. The Persian army was possibly comprised of over 100,000 men, over 3 times Alexander’s force. Again, Alexander prevailed as he charged straight into the Persian center along with his companion bodyguards and his best infantry. While Alexander fought in the center Darius’ huge flanks attacked Alexander’s flank guards.As Alexander routed the Persian infantry in the center, he turned his attention to his flanks. The Greek mercenaries on the flanks, knowing all to well what happened at Granicus, fled immediately once they saw they were about to be surrounded by Alexander’s best troops.
With his victory at Issus everything west of the Euphrates River was ripe for the picking. All of the cities surrendered peacefully except Tyre and Gaza, I will go into a bit of detail about Tyre's capture but will refrain from Gaza, on the basis that I do not know to much about Gaza's capture. What was so signifigant about Alexander conquering Tyre, a city on the Phoenician coast. The old city on the mainland had quickly surrendered. The newer city of Tyre was built a fortified island. They foolishly decided not to surrender. Over the space of six months Alexander built an 800 meter causeway along with several of the highest siege towers ever built. Despite the causewaybeing damaged and even destroyed, Alexander persevered until the causeway reached the walls.
Alexander’s forces fought their way through the gates. As Tyre’s soldiers grew desperate many of them committed suicide by drowning themselves in the sea. Once Alexander took hold of Tyre he slaughtered all of the captured soldiers including the king of Tyre.
Gaza, after marching down the coast Alexander came to Egypt.
In Egypt, Alexander founded the great city of Alexandria, which rew to be one of the greatest intellectual and trading centers of the world, this city contained the Great Library of Alexandria, one of the largest and ancient libraries in the world. While in Egypt, Alexander visited the Oracle of Siwa at a dessert oasis. The exact questions Alexander asked are unknown though. After leaving Egypt, Alexander marched into Persia until he met Darius and his army once again. Though Alexander had at least 50,000 men Darius had almost five times as many along with fifteen war elephants. Darius’s flanks were more than one mile wider than Alexander’s. Alexander stationed himself and his bodyguard in the middle of his battle line. When the battle started Alexander immediately charged the Persian center along with his best phalanx troops. Darius’ flanks then attacked Alexander’s with forces of cavalry. As Alexander’s troops gained the upper hand in the center, he turned his attention to his flanks. Seeing that his left wing was about to be surrounded Alexander led his companion cavalry and quickly restored the situation. When Darius saw he was about to be defeated he quickly fled, which ended up saving his life. At the end of the battle there were over 54,000 Persians and Greek mercenaries dead at the cost of only a few hundred Macedonians. After the battle Alexander then proceeded to the ancient city of Babylon.
After leaving Babylon, Alexander proceeded to the royal Persian treasury at Susa. After taking almost 50, 000 talents (Greek money) from the Treasury, Alexander set out to take the Persian summer capital of Persepolis. When Alexander got there, he then proclaimed himself king of Persia. .
During the occupation of Persepolis ,Alexander’s troops brutally sacked the great city and when he left Alexander put the whole city to the torch while carting of another 125,000 talents.
After Alexander sacked Persepolis, he heard that the fleeing King Darius was still nearby, so he pursued the king to what is now Afghanistan. After crossing the Great Salt dessert he heard that Darius had been overthrown by his commanders and was near death. When Alexander caught up to him at the village Ab Kore Darius was dead. Over the course of the next five years Alexander founded five cities each bearing his name. In the year of 326 B.C. Alexander finally reached the end of the Persian Empire. Alexander did not stop there, he decided to push into India and the kingdom of Porus.
In 326 Alexander encountered the Indian army of 30,000 men, 2,000 cavalry, and 300 war elephants led by Rajah Porus. Both armies were camped across from each other at the river Jhelum. Under the cover of night, on May, 21 Alexander assembled a crack force of 5,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry to cross the river. The boats that were taking them across the river soon got lost due to another channel that their intelligence had failed to warn them about. It was not until daybreak that Alexander’s troops could land. By then Porus had sighted them and sent his son along with 2,000 troops to counter Alexander, but it was too late. The soggy ground slowed the chariots allowing Alexander’s men to over whelm and kill Porus’s son. Porus was now trapped. His outmatched troops fought desperately against the Greeks, their elephants tearing huge chunks out of the phalanx. The Greek archers now turned their attention on the elephants. By shooting at their eyes the archers forced the elephants into charging at their own troops. At the end of the day Alexander had killed over 12,000 Indians, captured 9,000 and killed 80 elephants.
Alexander continued deeper into India until he reached the river Beas. Alexander was determined to reach the Indian Ocean (or in Greek eyes the end of the world). He probably would have, if his army had not mutinied against him, forcing him to turn back to Persia. Alexander had one more conquest though.
On the way back Alexander conquered the Mallian, the most powerful country on the Punjab. Their capital was the city of Multan which Alexander laid siege to. During the assault Alexander personally climbed up the first siege ladder and scaled the walls by himself and three guards. The ladder broke before anyone else could come to his aid. On the walls Alexander and his three guards desperately fought off the horde of attackers until Alexander was pierced by an arrow. One of the guards, Peucestas, shielded him with the shield of Achilles from Troy. Outside the walls the rumor that Alexander was dead swept through the ranks as his men used the battering ram as a ladder.
Swept with rage Alexander’s men slaughtered all the populace. Eventually Alexander healed though and his army’s morale soared. Alexander finally arrived at Persepolis in January, 324. By late February, Alexander was at Susa. When Alexander reached Ectabana a grand contest of athletic games took place, but during the games one of Alexander’s close friends and companions, Hisphastion, fell ill and died. Finally on June 10 323 B.C. Alexander died at the age of 32 due to combination of grief and typhoid fever.
A map of Alexander's Travels
Alexander's Empire
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Originally Posted by Mythos
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